Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s8.t3.9

v1.c7.s8.t3.9

Hinayana thinks that if you want to reach nirvana, it is necessary to become a monk and live the ascetic life. It puts emphasis on individual liberation, not on helping others for liberation. Directed against the Vimukti in Hinayana, Mahayana puts forward the concept of taking across sentient beings universally, and it emphasises the unity of nirvana and world. Volume five of *Saddharmapundarika-sutra* writes that “For taking across sentient beings universally and showing what nirvana will become after life ends, the Bodhisattva will not conduct the real nirvana”. The sutra is to show that nirvana is not isolated from the world, instead, lives in the world, which is because of the reason that Bodhisattva need to moralise humans. Volume 4 of *Madhyamika-sastra*, the main works of Madhyamaka, writes that “there is no difference between nirvana and world”. The sutra emphasises that nirvana is a spiritual or cognitive state relating to the world. In this state, people realise that all dharmas are atyanta-sunyata, and don’t persist in any prejudice.